What part of not wanting to sit 3 hours in a theatre for 1/3 of the story (which I've read) didn't you understand? I think that's a valid reason.

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Also, I can't believe people are quoting Chris Tolkien as someone who can legitimately take the high ground on these films after he stuck his name on things like The Silmarillion and has been suing every fantasy work that even begins to look like his late father's (somewhat derivative) work.

Apparently when JRR said, "I wanted to give England a mythology," that meant to Chris that the family gained a trademark on all fantasy writing.

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There are two types of people in the world: those who have read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings; and those that are going to. -London Sunday Times

Last night I watched Intouchables, a French movie about a quadruplegic and his live-in caretaker (or whatever you might call what the guy does). While I had heard only good things about the movie and expected it to be touching, I was surprised about just how funny it was. Loved the acting, both protagonists were just great.

Afterwards, we watched Elizabethtown, some romance/comedy flick with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. Well … I'm not into the genre too much, but always try to give a flick a chance, especially when I never heard of it before. While it had its moments (like the burning papiermache dove at the funeral and the Rusty-movie shown to silence the kids), I thought it was a bit boring. Not enough comedy and too much romance for my taste.

From the Christopher Tolkien article:
Wow yes, what a horrible injustice Jackson did there to Tolkien's legacy!:roll: (sarcasm intended)

I understand Christopher Tolkien wants to preserve his father's legacy, but he really seems a bit out of touch with the modern world. His father wanted to create a mythology and this is exactly what has happened. Movies, games, and maybe even toys and action figures are all part of expressing mythology in our modern world. If I were an author that had that widespread of an impact on culture I'd be thrilled.

And I'm willing to bet Jackson is one of the world's biggest Tolkien nerds, along with the people he works with like concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe, who had visualized Tolkien's works beautifully for many years prior to working on the films.

I just don't understand the need for this rift between the Tolkien estate and Jackson, unless it really just boils down to a money issue.

Guys what's wrong with Hollywood?

On the most anticipated movie lists in this year there are so many remakes I can't believe I'm seeing it.
Not only there will be Oldboy unnecessarry and probably silly remake, now I see they're making their version of the brilliant duch thriller Loft (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926762 ) with of course a new name like noone will notice it's a rip-off: The Loft (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1850397/ ).
It's not the first time they put a different name to the remake - Departed was Holywood's name for Infernal Affairs.

Is it me or Hollywood got completely out of ideas? Movies based on books and comics (looking forward to some, like Snowpiercer), okay, but movies based on already proven awsome movies - who needs that bullshit?

Not only that, while doing the remake on a movie, how come there is no remake of sequels/prequels? Infernal Affairs is a trilogy - Hollywood remade only one part. Another example is One Missed Call, also a trilogy, Holywood took care of keeping it's audience ignorant and never remade the all three movies but just one - which was of course utterly disastrous.

Seriously, I'm not gonna watch any of those remakes. I'm sick of it. As what they do is not grabbing some old bad movie and making it better - it's grabbing an awsome movie and dumbing it down.
There are some Hollywood movies that were remade and still respected the original (Let The Right One In for example), but those are so rare that I really won't risk my money on more and more remakes.

Just came back from Django Unchained. Very cool movie. I liked it a lot.

Thank goodness THAT isn't a problem with video games! ;)

Ah, IMO with video games the problem is lack of remakes/reboots.

KB and X-com prove that old games can get a brilliant reboot/remake. And honestly, I'd accept to lick someone's boots if that would help to see Anachronox remake.

Sorry for doublepost…

We all know DX movie will happen in a few years.
But now I see there is a live-action short coming soon. Teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqmgV3bHA8g

I watched I Saw The Devil, a korean thriller about a serial-killer at the recommendation of Jay from redlettermedia.com. I liked it quite a bit. I liked what they explored in it.

Just seen God Bless America. I liked the message of it. And the issue is not just in America, it's almost everywhere. Anyone else seen it?

Um… Not me. I avoid movies and series that mention America in the title as usually those turn out to be not worth my time and as if America is in the title just to milk more cash. Still remembering American ninja, hahahaha

Could give a chance to this one though:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959332/

I'm of the same opinion, but this one is actually a challenge to the lack of any decency and common sense that are happening. And as I said they're not happening just in America. We're living in some nasty times where most of the media and entertainment business that should be informing or intelligently entertaining, is just spewing garbage to keep people busy with stupid shit, when they should be paying attention to the way they're being manipulated and transformed into mindless consumers.

Looks silly … but it is free streaming on Amazon (Prime) and Netflix, so I added it and will check it out.

It is kinda of silly sometimes, but sometimes it drives a good point. They could have done better I guess and they did not go for a very gritty and analytical study of this issue. But it's a fun movie and made good points. Especially in the beginning, the main character has a fun 5 minute rant on the stupid issues people are concerning themselves with.

And I really liked the ending.

The thing that struck me in the trailer is how the solution to every annoyance seems to turn to 'shooting someone', which is particularly ironic since there has been so much of that here lately between the Aurora theater and Sandy Hook Elementary School in the last couple of months …

I think the movie was released before the theater shootings, because there is a shooting scene right in a cinema.

I agree that shooting is not the solution. That's just the cop-out way of solving things. And not really solving. Just replacing one problem with another. I honestly don't know what the solution would be. But I imagine it's something that will take a couple of generations to fix. Meaning we have to start now, for our children's children to maybe see some results.

I thought it was a terrible, self-righteous movie. Oh look, there just happens to be evil right wing protestors at the side of the road, lets shoot them. Oh look, an evil right wing talk show host just happens to be out for a morning jog, lets shoot him. Lets shoot a little annoying teen girl after school, then lets go to her house and murder her parents.

Really? This is the long, protracted near-sleep fantasy of someone with a lot of issues. I only made it about 3/4 before turning it off. Bobcat Goldthwaite, you need help.

But American Ninja, now THAT is a classic ='.'=

Those were the fun parts I found. :p And they were religious protesters if I remember correctly. You honestly side with people going on the streets with "God hates f*gs" signs?
That guy was a manipulative xenophobe spreading fear and whatever he could just to up his ratings. You're gonna side with that? Those are probably not even his beliefs. He'll just spew whatever the other xenophobes want to hear.

Yeah, that maybe was a bit excessive, but I found that was just part of the going-postal routine. Anyway, as a side note, with regards to that spoiled girl and having her "sweet 16 birthday party" where she has a hissy-fit because daddy didn't get her an Escalade like she wanted , I'm gland that kind of thing doesn't happen in my country. That'd be just another amazing annoying thing to put up with.

Anyway, no one is saying shooting is the solution. That just the film having some fun going overboard.

I'm not "siding" with anyone.

I'm all for shooting people who pose a direct threat to one's health and safety, in self-defense. Shooting someone because you dont like or agree with them, religious, political, even rampant slavering fanboyism is something else altogether.

I know the movie's out for fun, I just didnt find it very fun or intelligent.

And that was my problem with the trailer. I know it came out before the recent shootings, but there are plenty of others - to the point where mass shooting as social commentary is at best misguided.